Shocking doorbell cam footage shows a 'porch pirate' tearing open a package with £200 worth of computer parts - before returning with a bag to scoop up his loot.
The middle-aged man was seen on CCTV swooping on the box filled with electronic items after spotting it by the back door of a home while walking his dog.
And disturbingly, he was then filmed returning around five more times to scope out the address, in Mexborough, South Yorks., over the days that followed.
The anonymous homeowner said they’d left the parcel for a collection driver and had seen the man - who is known to him - taking the items on a Ring Doorbell camera.
And he'd later felt scared to return to the one-bed ground floor flat with his partner - adding that antisocial behaviour was growing worse in the area.
The resident said: “I was meant to get that parcel picked up by Royal Mail.
“When he came around that day, I was at my family's home. That’s when the Ring Doorbell went off. I saw him messing with it. I couldn’t react in time.
“I rang 999, and said there was 'somebody stealing my stuff’. They said, ‘Don’t worry about it. There’s not a threat to life, ring 101.’
“But when they saw the footage, they were shocked that he'd ripped up bits of the box.”
He added: “We were meant to be staying two days with my family.
"But that turned into five to ten days."
The shocked resident said the incident had unfolded on October 13 after he left the parcel full of electronics for collection at the back of his council-rented property.
But he said the driver failed to see a note on his front door telling them where to find the package, which then left the item on display for several hours.
The footage shows the man using the heel of his shoe to break into the package, which was secured with gaffer tape, before ripping into it with his hands.
He then begins to look through the items and leaves briefly before returning with a plastic bag, which he uses to stash several of them.
Later footage showed him returning to examine the back porch and front of the property again, perhaps in the hope of finding other items to pilfer.
The homeowner added: “He took bits out of it and left.
"I thought ‘That’s the end of it’, and I’ll ring Cash Converters. But later that day, he came back to look at what he had done.
“A that point, I was still with my family. I thought, ‘Why has he come back? I wanted to come home, but I didn’t feel safe
“A few days later, he came back. And a few days after that, he’s just come back and forth.”
South Yorkshire Police said: "The victim states that he left a parcel on his doorstep for Royal Mail to collect and a man has opened the package and stole items from within it.
“It is under investigation at the moment.”
